SIGNS OF HOPE
Human Rights in the Church
NORDIC CONFERENCE IN DEAF MINISTRY 8.6.2015, Järvenpää
Opening speech
Bishop Tapio Luoma
Dear participants in the Nordic Conference in Deaf Ministry, dear sisters and brothers in Christ.
It is a great pleasure for me to extend to all of you a very warm welcome. This Conference takes place in the youngest of the nine dioceses in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Espoo diocese started its functions just eleven years ago. Nowadays it consists of 19 parishes, situated in southern Finland. In spite of its relatively young age as a diocese, our diocese has quite an energetic touch with its area and its parishes. Like this Nordic Conference in Deaf Ministry, there are several important meetings and conferences taking place every year in Espoo diocese, especially here in Järvenpää and this institute, the Church Training College.
The theme of human rights has been one of the most vivid issues of discussion during recent years. The human rights are sometimes even debated and although there is agreement upon their basic points, their application in concrete terms seems to be far from clear. Our Nordic churches are constantly affected by this discussion. We must not avoid asking whether we have understood the human rights correctly and whether we have found the appropriate ways to put them into use.
There are two points I would like to make on this occasion. First, the human rights as we know them today are something that have found their verbal formulation through processes in human communities. For example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, is the result of painful experiences of several devastating wars and profound reflection on the significance of being a human person. This declaration has affected deeply our present idea of humanity and our conception of what is right and wrong in terms of human interaction.
Christian churches can freely align the ideas in the Universal Declaration because, in concrete terms, it explicates some of the core conclusions of Christian understanding of what it means to be a human being. However, here we also meet a weak point in the Declaration. The Declaration is grounded on the mutual agreement of those who have undersigned it. It tries to suggest that there is a basis more profound and resistant to human arbitrariness than a mere well-meaning attitude, but I am not sure how well it succeeds in elucidating this transcendent feature.
It is not hard to see in our contemporary world how easy it is to break all kinds of human agreements, no matter how noble they are. In this respect, the Christian churches can remind the world that there truly is a transcendent foundation for humanity and for human rights, a foundation that is not dependent on our ability to agree. This foundation is our belief that as human beings we are creation of God. This means that God’s will and God’s love both create and sustain human existence. It should be kept in mind, as well, that Christian belief calls us to bear our responsibility amidst our neighbours. I think that it is of utmost importance not to forget the transcendent basis of human rights, especially when we are talking about human rights in the church itself.
The second point I would like to make is an important detail in human rights. This detail seems to be implicit in the Universal Declaration although it has not been addressed directly in any paragraph of its own. The question is of understanding. The ability to understand is one of the key features of humanity and human progress. Wherever the right to understanding is denied,there are lies and a conception of reality based on untruth, untruth that serves only the cause of those who want to control and impose their view of reality upon others. Wherever the right to understanding is denied, there is no interest in investing in the increase of education and taking seriously the situation of those who are not, for some reason or another, able to participate in human interaction on similar terms with others. I think that when the human rights are discussed in a conference dealing with ministry among the deaf, the issue of understanding as an essential part of human rights must be addressed.
This understanding is two-fold. As a feature of human rights, understanding is something that should be guaranteed to all people, also to hearing-impaired persons. Therefore we can never stress too muchthe significance of sign language, the means for understanding among and with the deaf. The other dimension of understanding is also related to the central role of sign language. Persons with a hearing disability have the right to be heard, the right to express themselves and the right to be understood. As with all human rights in the world, also in this respect there remains a lot of work to do.
Dear participants, ladies and gentlemen. Human rights in the church is an acute and important theme. The transcendent foundation of human rights in the will and love of God as well as the idea of understanding as a dimension of human rights both deserve to be taken into account. They belong to the signs of hope that we are looking for in this conference. I am sure that the Conference will give us plenty of new insights and steadfast inspiration to act in and through the deaf ministry of our churches.
May God bless you all so that you may enjoy this unique fellowship and your stay in Järvenpää.